Next task for Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell: Applying lessons learned from Bill Belichick against him

Vikings 600229006

On the NFL: O'Connell played for the New England coach, who has accumulated so many NFL wins in no small part because of the way his teams methodically bounced back from blowout losses.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick coached Kevin O’Connell when he was merely a quarterback instead of Vikings head coach. The two will face each other Thursday night.Bill Belichick's Patriots were getting thrashed so soundly by Tony Sparano's Dolphins back in 2008 that some greenhorn rookie third-string quarterback named Kevin O'Connell came in and mopped up the final six minutes.

"Mopped up?! That's a heck of a term!" said O'Connell, feigning outrage at the term when it was presented to him on…